Their planning is impeccable – they are hitting soft targets wherever they appear And that means trouble

Their planning is impeccable – they are hitting soft targets wherever they appear And that means trouble.. In fact, in both Tuesday’s and yesterday’s bombings both Shia and Sunni were targeted.The Americans said yesterday that they believed the two days of savage suicide bombings had been timed to coincide with the visit of a UN delegation that is here to determine whether elections will be possible before the USA’s June 30 deadline to “hand over” power to an interim Iraqi authority.”We have stated numerous times that in the lead-up to governance, there could be an uptick in the violence,” said Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt, the deputy operations chief in Baghdad.But what was most striking about these two bombings was the numbers they managed to kill. It is hard to see how a foreigner could get such information without help.It is also unlikely that foreigners could get hold of a car and explosives on their own without attracting attention in Iraq, which is a very closed society Here foreigners are viewed with suspicion. Even non-Iraqi Arabs stand out because of the way they look and for speaking a different dialect of Arabic.The Americans have tried tried to suggest that the latest suicide bombings fit with a recent message they claim to have received from an Islamic militant, with links in Iraq to al-Qai’da leaders seeking help to plan attacks on Iraq’s Shia to foment civil war.

“Iraqis would not do such a thing.” But inside knowledge that would let the bombers know the exact hour to strike suggests that at least some Iraqis were involved. The bombers knew not only the day, but the exact hour when large crowds of new recruits would be outside and thus be easy prey.The US was seeking to portray both bombings as the work of foreign Islamic militants close to al-Qa’ida yesterday. It was an idea that found plenty of sympathy among the Iraqi wounded.”They were not Iraqis, absoluetly not,” said Lt Jassem. After a few seconds I saw a huge fire and I tried to lie down on the ground. Then I tried to get up and I couldn’t.”Grown men wept in the hospital over their sons.

One, a dignified-looking man, dabbed at his eyes with the ends of his red-chequered headscarf and cried out in agony.Outside the hospital gates, relatives shouted the names of missing loved ones to the officials inside.The pattern was exactly the same as the bombing the day before at Iskandariya police station. I saw others who had lost their limbs and flesh, and many dead bodies. I saw I was alive and I thank God for it.”Another of the wounded men in the hospital, Haider Jassem, saw the suicide car as it drove into the crowd “Suddenly I saw a car coming towards us,” he said “It was a white Oldsmobile. We are not in a good position,” said Qais Ibrahim from his hospital bed yesterday.”If anyone, especially the terrorists, comes, they will come directly at us The other guy told me to trust in God’s will. Then, at around 7.30am, I felt fire in my eyes and I fell down.”When I got up, I saw a man who had lost his head, and the rest of his body was burned.